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Infosys bets on digital strategy to spur growth

Riding on strong financial performance and disruptive technologies, global software major Infosys is betting on digital strategy to spur growth in the exciting times, its co-founder and Chairman Nandan M. Nilekani said on Saturday.

“We are at an exciting juncture in the journey of our industry. I have never seen as many possibilities to partner with and grow along with our clients as I see today. Every industry, every sector is undergoing transformation, driven by the digital revolution that engulfs us,” Nilekani told the shareholders at its 37th Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Nilekani, 63, rejoined the $10.94-billion IT major in August 2017 eight years after he resigned as CEO to become head of the state-run UIDAI, which issues the unique identification card Aadhaar.

Presiding over the AGM for the first time as Chairman, he said digital challenges were pervading every space spanning media, entertainment, healthcare financial services, retail or pharmaceuticals.

“The digital technology is bringing new ways of doing business, of using the latest technology, leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT) and letting data point the way to creating new kinds of customer experience,” he said.

Noting that digital technology gave the outsourcing firm an opportunity to do something different and help businesses deal with increasing digitisation for their transformation, the Chairman said he was convinced that there was no better time than now to strategically chart its own journey as a company as well.

“The first thing we did was to get our strategy right. Under the leadership of our new Chief Executive Salil Parekh, we took stock of our capabilities, the areas we need to strengthen and discussed with our clients the best way to steer forward. Our strategic clarity is beginning to drive everything we do,” he said.

Assuring the investors that the company had taken several steps to bring back stability, Nilekani said a stable board was in place with a capable management team and thousands of Infoscions.

“When I stepped for the second time into Infosys in August 2017, one of the concerns raised by you (investors) was about the company’s stability. We have a very stable board, everybody is united and we are on the verge of something momentous. The focus is on execution,” he said.

Admitting that Infosys had seen some testing times in the year (2017-18), he said the resilience of its board and management helped the company deliver strong financial performance for the fiscal.

“I am grateful for the privilege and opportunity to serve this iconic company once again,” Nilekani told about 800 shareholders at the AGM, held in a private college auditorium here.

The company’s other co-founders, including N.R. Narayan Murthy, were conspicuously absent once again at the AGM as last year.

Elaborating on the strategy, Nilekani said the company had a framework to drive digital agility at scale for its clients through experience, insight, innovation, acceleration and assurance.

“We also have a game plan to bring our clients’ traditional core systems into the modern era. We have evolved from leveraging classic software development methods to approaching software creation in agile and digital ways,” he said.

Investing in learning as part of its strategy, the company is seeking to make it (learning) always-on, just-in-time, anytime, anywhere so that its employees are equipped with the knowledge and intellectual assets needed to guide and shape its clients’ pursuits in a more digital future.

“We are embarking on strengthening this learning in all our key markets. As we build more local capabilities in America, Europe and Australia, we are ensuring learning and development match the pace of localisation,” added Nilekani.

Over the last 37 years, the company has navigated its global clients from mainframes to client servers, internet, broadband and digital technology.